In another thread Dennis told us how he managed to cut himself so badly that his hand needed to be stitched together.

Dan then suggested the use of Kevlar gloves. This reminded me that I wanted to test those gloves, so I ordered a pair and promised to post my results here.

The gloves arrived last weekend. They are the cheap variety, only a few Euros per pair. They fit quite comfortably, though, and feel a bit like woolen gloves. I almost felt sorry I’d subject them to some mean testing.



I put on the gloves and lightly ran a knife through my hands. The gloves did not give in and it actually felt as if they could withstand some heavier slicing. But I decided my hands were too valuable to me to involve them in this test.

So I tried to find a substitute for my hand. I ended up with a brilliant idea: a chicken!



I had a chicken butchered, plucked and cut up. Then I picked up the result at the supermarket. Here she is.



I put on the chicken my right-hand glove. The chicken had had worse clothes in her life.



Then I tried to slice the chicken.



But no matter how hard I tried, the glove wouldn’t give in. Hard pressure, subtle pressure, slicing or push cutting, the glove protected the chicken beautifully. Only then I realized Kevlar is special stuff.

I tried cutting the other side of the glove.



But to no avail.

Even though the gloves were quite comfortable and they would have prevented Dennis from a trip to the hospital, I still couldn’t see myself wearing these gloves while sharpening a knife.

I could see a practical purpose for these gloves, however. When I open oysters, I always use a towel to protect the hand that hold the oyster. But even then it sometimes occurs to me that my other hand might slip and that I could hurt myself. So I wondered whether the glove would also protect against stabbing.

So I dressed up the chicken again, took my Japanese petty knife and gave the chicken a good stab…



Utterly dead.

Now this Japanese knife is one of the sharpest and pointiest things in my house, so I thought my rather blunt oyster knife might be less effective. So I stabbed the chicken again…



Still dead.

So now I have left a Kevlar glove that protects well against slicing, but not against stabbing.

And I had a chicken left. Until tonight.

mark76 wrote:


Thanks Mark .... That would have been my guess exactly. No matter how comfortable these type of gloves might be ... I could not imagine myself wearing them while using the WE to sharpen a knife. Reminds me of some of my early days in the military. There we were in Berlin ... in a secure facility ... yet once a quarter or so we had to practice doing our jobs (the majority of which involved using keyboards and dialing knobs) while wearing gear to protect against chemical or biological warfare. Now, can you use a keyboard wearing two different layers of gloves ... yes. Is if enjoyable and effective ... absolutely not!

Thanks again. Enjoyed your little test and the dash of humor it contained! Ref "my" situation! Just how bad was that slice exactly? Well, it's now almost 3 weeks since my moment of stupidity. Still have to wear some skin closures to keep the top layer of the cut from splitting open. It was just so deep and in a very hard to heal location (kind of have to move that thumb to do just about anything!). On the bright side ... it hasn't stopped me from sharpening! Re-profiled 2 knives since then as well as touching up a few others!

Mark, that was really funny. I also bought a pair of gloves to test though I haven't delved in yet. I found some with Spectra instead of Kevlar and they have a very high cut resistance rating. My first little test dulled my very sharp knife but did not cut the glove. They are comfortable but I also haven't been inclined to wear them yet while working.

Hilarious! Looks like you are going to need some of BassLakeDan's liquid armor to stop the stab though.
Good to know that they do stop the slice - just incase someone asks I'll refer them to the chicken story...

oops - clicked twice

I used to do quite a bit of woodcarving, and would often hold the piece I was working on in my left hand while I carved with the right.

Due to an accident years before, I have very little sensation in my left hand, and I accidentally cut myself bad enough to need stitches several times. My wife got tired of driving me to the ER, so she got me a pair of kevlar gloves. I used them all the time after that on my left hand, and they worked great. They are cut/slash resistant, but definetly not stab resistant, as you discovered.